


Catch And Release.

by Hell_Serpent



Series: Pokemon Stories [2]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hinted Break Up :), Light Angst, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Pokemon Rangers - Freeform, Rated T for Swearing and at one point an injury, Slow Burn, mild depictions of injuries, no beta we die like nobody here, winters comin ho ho ho but i aint cold with warmth like this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:15:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21927307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hell_Serpent/pseuds/Hell_Serpent
Summary: They meet at the Pokemon Ranger headquarters.To be honest, Jiang Cheng should have seen this coming, but really, he feels like Arceus just loves to see him silently set off all the landmines  in his life, with them being in the same unit? He feels someone behind the scenes is setting him up.No mercies here, not when he knows Wen Qionglin remembers him.(AU where Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning are Pokemon Rangers.)
Relationships: Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín/Wēn Níng | Wēn Qiónglín
Series: Pokemon Stories [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1579180
Kudos: 39
Collections: MXTX Creative Space Secret Santa 2019





	Catch And Release.

**Author's Note:**

> Me: Okay, this should be short  
> Also Me and my world building ass: sprinkle all the fukcing references that don't make sense >:D
> 
> The numbers are the ages of the Main Characters basically to know which is the past and which is present
> 
> EDIT: Since the 25th has passed, this is actually a gift for Beast on discord uwu

10

"I don't want to become the Pokemon Champion." A boy once said to his family over dinner, ignoring the way his mother slammed her hand onto the table while the rest went silent.

"Why is that, Didi?" The eldest, a fine and gentle woman asked from her seat, her soft smile easing her little brother into giving an explanation to his decision.

"I'm not good with pokemon in the long term, or at least, multiple pokemon." He grumbled, idly petting his Pichu from under the table, "Unless they're just as stubborn as I am into working with me, I don't think I'll be able to make a complete journey."

"So," His mother cut in, sipping on her tea to try and not shout at her son, there was thought into this, but that did not mean she wasn't irked, "You're giving up?"

"No!" The boy shook his head, sighing and taking a breath before speaking up once more, "I just think I'll be better if I…"

He stumbled over his words but pressed on, "I'm going to have to live on my own soon enough and frankly, I still want to be with Pokemon even if they don't really like me, I'm not good with all those management business father does."

"I'm… Is it alright if I become a Pokemon Ranger…? Or maybe even a Police Officer, I want to make a living, besides if I become a Champion, who's to say I'll be one for long?" He settled, looking down at his little partner, smiling when the purple Pichu gave a happy 'cha~' at his effort, lightly tapping his hand.

"Jiang Cheng," The boy lifted his head, eyeing the older male apart from his unusually silent brother, his father looked at - _truly looked at and finally **saw**_ \- him.

"Is this what you want?"

Jiang Cheng looked back into his father's eyes, steeling his gaze.

_(Jiang Fengmian couldn't help but be pulled in those dark silver hues, feeling a swirling storm inside, ready to rain hell into the future.)_

"This had been something I've always thought about. I do want it."

The son sees something thaw through his father's form, he doesn't know what it is, too unfamiliar with it being him the one to be subjected to it.

_(A little too late, for him to recognise his father's pride in him.)_

He guessed it's good when his father smiles a little wider, nodding softly and reaching out only to awkwardly come short as he was too far from his side of the table.

_(It was too be expected, his brother was the one nearer as he would always get his hair ruffled.)_

"Ahem," Jiang Fengmian pulls back, coughing to save face from looking ridiculous as the two brothers quietly snicker, "Very well, then. I suppose I could send you to Gusu Academy to help you with your career."

* * *

* * *

25

They meet at the Pokemon Ranger headquarters. To be honest, Jiang Cheng should have seen this coming, Wen Qionglin had mentioned once of how he wanted to work along side Pokemon instead of training them in the past.

Then again, he can barely recall those days, it had gotten too bright for him to see.

But really, he feels like Arceus just loves to see him silently set off all the landmines in his life, with them being in the same unit? He feels someone behind the scenes is setting him up.

No mercies here, not when he knows Wen Qionglin remembers him.

"Don't tell my brother." Was his first words in a long while - _years to be more specific_ \- to the man beside him as both halfheartedly listened to their leader's speech.

"I-i won't, I'm the same as you." He had whispered back and that throws him for a loop, because when did Wen Qionglin ever keep anything in his life secret? Jiang Cheng has to backtrack, of course he wouldn't know that much about the timid Wen.

He shouldn't really care anyway, it was his life, as long as it was seperate from his then has no reason to worry over his situation.

That is until they were assigned to be partners.

* * *

"Hey, fluffball!" Jiang Wanyin hollered, grinning like an idiotic maniac, to which Wen Ning is strongly considering a possibility as the Ursaring turns away from him and to his parter.

"Feel my friendship or so help me-!" The man screamed and really, he appreciates the distraction but is he okay? Seriously, even the Ursaring is confused, if the rather frozen bear Pokemon letting itself be lassoed at least five times, is anything to go by.

It takes around two loops for him to stand up and join in placating the wild Pokemon before Wen Ning calls for one of the Squirtles in his arsenal to help keep it from moving to much and damaging the loops.

"Wen Ning! Have your Squirtle drench the area!" He hears his partner on the other side and quickly mutters for his friend to be careful before ordering the blue turtle on what to do.

It only makes the now drenched Ursaring angrier, that is until Jiang Wanyin called upon his own Pokemon to let his plan show.

"Zidian, Shock Field!" His purple Pikachu jumped up, happily crying out before sending a Thunderwave into the water, effectively stunning the Pokemon.

By then, it only takes a few more loops and some berries to have the Ursaring willing to help them, albeit begrudgingly and without at least having a friendly frustrated tussle with Wen Ning's partner.

"Wanyin?" Wen Ning nervously called the man who merely grunted for him to continue, trying to keep the Ursaring pinned.

He takes that as a gesture to continue, swallowing his mouthful of oran berries to help calm him down, "I thought your family knew about your job choice…?"

Jiang Wanyin flinched, loosening his hold by mistake and suffers the weight of a heavy bear on his back.

"I yield you big furball!" He stalled, huffing as he got out and sat beside his partner in crime(? justice?) for a while, Wen Ning said nothing, waiting patiently for the man to sort out his thoughts.

"Me and my brother had a fall out," The other grumbled, grabbing his own share of oran berries to munch on and power through, "I wanted him to join the Ranger business right before I'd graduate, I know he'd be great at it, the idiot wanted to try and do the whole Champion thing though, wanted to beat the current one."

This didn't surprise Wen Ning much, knowing the two but if he remembered correctly, that was already around seven years ago.

Jiang Wanyin seemed to notice and scoffed, "Of course, Wei Wuxian only did it to try and get a date from the champion, if I remember correctly, my A-jie said they're off around Kalos, ignoring their duty as our region's Champions."

The resentment in his partner's voice could have fooled any normal person into thinking the man had enough of his brother's antics.

Wen Ning was far from normal.

_(It did not have to do with him once being so sure in how the other felt. Those were the days long forgotten. Days when there was nothing between them but shared promises and secrets no one else knew.)_

"You miss him." He said, his voice a breathless whisper as if one with the wind. For a moment, they let the forest lull them into it's song of nature, let Mother Nature beat it's drums of earth into their hearts and calm their minds.

"Yeah." Jiang Cheng croaked, looking up at the cloudless sky, to which he followed soot.

"It's going to rain soon," His partner cut in through the silence, he made no move whatsoever to prepare their tent.

"Must be raining somewhere else, then." Wen Ning replied, this time with a smile, bright sea met shiny silver, a little bit warmer despite the cool breeze between them.

"Shall we, partner?" Jiang Cheng smirked, nudging his head to their scattered friends.

"Yeah, let's clean up before the stars align."

* * *

* * *

10

"Jie?" A boy knocked on the door, quietly walking in once he heard a muffled 'enter'.

"A-Ning," The teen relaxed at the sight of her little brother, pushing away from her desk to face him.

It takes a few moments in reaching her and the boy merely falls into her subtle waiting arms.

"You don't want to become a Doctor." She went right to the point, though it didn't mean she liked her own bluntness from time to time, letting it all out merely makes her cling on to her little brother more.

It hurt, just a little, that he wanted to do something their family could use against him.

But Wen Ning was not blind.

He knew it the moment he was gifted a special breed of Charmander for being so 'passionate' about his goal.

"Trust me, Jie…" He whispered, tugging onto her sister's sleeves to make her look down.

Wen Ning smiles for her, as warm as the sun on a good clear day, his bright clear eyes glinting and cooling the burns of stress in her, soothing her like the ovran that had always kept her flames subdued.

His brother was warm, neither hot nor cold. He was fine just the way he is.

"Okay…" Wen Qing relents for once, placing one soft kiss on the boy's temple.

"Okay."

* * *

* * *

25

"Did you know that your main family is so corrupt?" He hears the anger but knows he's still waiting for an explanation.

It feels like an excuse but Wen Ning knew it would have sounded more damning if he stayed silent to this man.

_(He's already done that mistake once. Wen Ning is wise enough to cherish the second chance he's been given than to wait for the third charm.)_

"That's why I want to be a Ranger." He said, idly petting his Charmeleon, his shimmering scales glowing brighter by the fire.

"I want to take them down. It'll be hard." Wen Ning chuckled, looking into the fire, careful to not get sucked in, he knows how dangerous it can be to let yourself surrender to the flames.

"Will you still stand by me when I fall?" _Will you still be my partner if I ever...?_

Jiang Cheng knows - _and will continue to know_ \- what he means. He placed himself into a dangerous position where it would have been easy to flip the tables.

"I won't let you fall, Wen Ning." To that, Wen Ning let out a snort but didn't look at his partner.

He knows in this fight, he'd definitely fall.

_It's impossible for you to stop the inevitable._

_You already failed once._

* * *

* * *

15

"Why is your Charmander _gold?"_ A boy dressed in purple asked him once, as if he doesn't know about Shinies, as if he doesn't have a different colored Pokemon himself.

"Um...I-it's a shiny? What about yours?? Your Pichu is _purple."_ He replied, his blush matching his cap as he tries to look away from the flustered glare.

"Some asshole thought it would be fun to experiment on pokemon to change their colors, I saved Zidian though, I was just making sure you're not another one." Which is fair, if he were in the same shoes he'd still make sure.

"What's your name?" He settled with, keen on getting to know this grumpy guy, he can't be that bad if he cares for Pokemon, can he?

"Jiang Cheng. Courtesy Jiang Wanyin. You?"

"Wen Ning. Courtesy Wen Qionglin."

* * *

"You'd be better off as a caretaker." Wanyin called out when he saw the way Wen Ning wrapped the egg in a fuzzy blanket, it looked cozy.

"Maybe…" The boy hummed and settled the bundle into his lap, a small gentle smile creeping up his face when his golden partner curled closer to give the egg some heat.

There's a shuffle beside him and the warmth grows as knees brushed against his and Wen Ning feels his friend slump against him.

_Jiang Wanyin is warm today,_ he muses, hands silently taking another blanket to wrap around his companion's own egg, _still, you could never be too sure._

The other doesn't say his thanks, both know he'd somehow make it sound rude, it is felt though, with the way he leans closer when a breeze chills the back of Wen Ning's neck.

The silence is loud for them. Too many things unspoken for they don't need to be heard.

They already know what the other is trying to say, trying to promise and trying to keep in their line of thoughts.

They drift and break apart all the same at the end of their year.

For somewhere down that line is a breaking point.

* * *

* * *

25

"It's snowing." Jiang Cheng frowned when he heard the obvious from his partner, with a frown matching his own, Zidian huffed and glared at the snowflake that fell smack dab on his nose and sneezed.

"Isn't this a _tropical_ country?" He seethed himself, the flakes on his body instantly melting from his body heat, if he weren't so irritated he would have been amused.

"It is, something must be going on then." Wen Ning deduced, which is still stating the obvious in Jiang Cheng's opinion and most likely blow the cover even before they started but he doesn't reply.

Wen Ning's Charmeleon had seen something.

"Get your ass off the ground then and get your coat, looks like we're heading up to Gusu Mountains." He grumbled, his brother better not be involved in this mess because if that idiot was involved he'd arrest that annoying nuisance, guilty or not.

"Please don't arrest your brother, Ranger Cheng." Wen Ning practically pleaded, either he muttered his thoughts out loud or the other man knew what he was thinking and he's a lot more relaxed with the latter than he thought.

"He's still in Kalos too." Jiang Cheng snorted and started making his way to follow his partner's Pokemon once he saw their stuff was all packed.

"You forget that I am a _Jiang_ , Ranger Ning. I can damn well try and attempt the impossible."

If a snowball hit the hothead along the way, with a flurry of angry snow flying, well, nobody needed to know.

* * *

Let's cut to the chase. Shit hit the fan.

Shit always hits the fan when the shitty Wens were involved.

Because, - _forgive Wen Ning's language_ \- they were all a bunch of shitheads that stank so bad they didn't even need smoke from the fire they use to make people hurl and hack a lung.

He's gotten off track here, he needed to focus, for Arceus' sake! His partner is literally on the floor!! He was the one who stabbed him in the back and he knows it wasn't a hazardous place, just close enough to make it look gruesome but still!!!

"Why is it always the quiet ones that keep fucking me over and are still nice to me? I can't even get mad since you bullshitted so well." Oh that is _not_ **_good_** , Jiang Cheng is rambling and _actually complementing him._

"Shut up." For once, it is him that hissed as he applied more pressure to the wound while Chansey did it's best to heal a non-Pokemon patient.

Backup arrived _so fucking late_ but he's just glad he doesn't have to be bathed in red again, and Jiang Cheng was able to be confirmed as stable, that too.

It felt like hours when he knew it only took a few minutes for his partner to awaken.

He knows he's awake from the loud cursing he hears.

Outside the soundproof room.

The absolute buffoon, from the sounds of his screams it sounded like he was trying to get off his bed.

A flurry of emotions swirls inside him as he slams the doors open and slaps Jiang Cheng with no hesitation, grabbing him by the collar of his hospital gown.

Wen Ning is pretty sure he heard someone scolding him for 'hurting an injured patient' but he's too busy hugging said patient to care.

"You… you're still here…?" Wen Ning heard the doors shut and it's just them now so he nodded into Jiang Cheng's neck.

"I'm not leaving you this time. Didn't I promise…? To come back? I wasn't sure before but now that they're gone I'm sure now, if you'll still have me that is…" The man in his arms started to chuckle, which- rude! Can't he see he's having a dramatic fit here?

"Idiot. Few barely ever try to come back to me." Oh, oh that's kinda sad but _also-_

Wen Ning hugged the other a little tighter, minding the stitches as a smile crawled up his face. "You're stuck with me, anyway, whether you like it or not."

Charmeleon and Zidian let out a happy cry of their own when he's hugged back, the warm embrace soothing his shaking heart.

"Wouldn't have it any other way, partner."

**Author's Note:**

> \-- The Main Wen Fam is basically a big company doing corrupt things using Pokemon  
> \-- JFM wants his kids to someday beat him (he's in the Elite 4) but still supports their choices. badly shows it tho  
> \-- Wen Qing is a Pokemon and Human Doctor, known for being one of the best in healing both humans and pokemon  
> \-- The Champion is LWJ and WWX went off to try and beat him to get a date if that ain't obvious.  
> \-- Pokemon Rangers are essentially like Agents(?) that only have one partner Pokemon and befriend the rest to help with their missions


End file.
